| Piano Sonata | |
| Dedication: | Geneviève Joy |
| Movements: | three |
Henri Dutilleux's Piano Sonata (1947–1948) was his only piano sonata. It is dedicated to and premiered by his wife Geneviève Joy on 30 April 1948.[1] The Piano Sonata has since become one of the most acclaimed post-World War II works in the genre[2] and has been championed by major pianists such as John Ogdon, Robert Levin, John Chen and Claire-Marie Le Guay.
Although Dutilleux had been active as a composer for ten years when he wrote his piano sonata, he viewed it as his Opus 1, the first work that he considered up to his mature standards.[3] Debussy, Ravel, Bartók and Prokofiev[4] have been cited as influences on the piece although critics have also stressed that its language is original and distinctive,[5] a personal synthesis of French Impressionism and Soviet music.[6]
The work has three movements.The piano sonata represented an opportunity for Dutilleux to experiment with an ambitious, large-scale project, something that his previous commissioned works did not permit. In his own words: "I wanted to move gradually towards working in larger forms, and not to be satisfied with short pieces – to get away, if you like, from a way of writing that was 'typically French.[7] The piece combines two concerns typical of Dutilleux's mature works: formal rigour and harmonic research. Its themes are ambiguous, never completely modal or tonal.[8]
The first movement, Allegro con moto, starts in but often changes meter. It is bi-thematic and classical in structure, with an ample first theme while the second one derives from the former. From the very first bars, it displays F major-minor ambiguity. Tritones are also featured prominently, as well as extremes of register which give the piece a symphonic character.
The Lied is the shortest movement. In ternary A–B–A form, it is also sparser and more pensive than the other two. Its basic tonality is D major although some degree of modal-tonal ambiguity is again noticeable. It begins in with some meter changes later on.
The last movement starts with an imposing Choral in that suggests a four-voice polyphony. It is characterized by carillon-like sonorities that are created by the overlapping of low and high sustained notes. It is followed by 4 variations (Vivace – Un poco più vivo – Calmo – Prestissimo). Variation II features an early example of "fan-shaped phrases", a device Dutilleux would use frequently in his later works. The movement concludes with a varied recapitulation of the Choral. The variations are thus structured in a mini-sonata form, creating a "sonata within a sonata". Throughout the movement, several passages have a toccata-like character.
The work has been described as "a brilliant, multi-layered piece with echoes of Bartók and Prokofiev" as well as a "sonata that Debussy might have written... sensuous and classical".